After an apparent disbanding the Swedish suicide Black Metalers Shining have regrouped and have released a new full-length.

Those of you who have followed this band for some time now, have probably noticed that if you have heard one Shining album you have heard all of them; well dear readers, this time it is no exception. Walls of sound created via tremolo picking and semi-hypnotic arpeggios played at various tempos that range from slow to mid/fast make the main structure of the song, while tight drumming and a solid and clear bass guitar, work as a great rhythm section. Kvarforth’s moribund like vocals once again are present and I must say they fit the music pretty well and the production is very similar to previous releases, but cleaner.

What I enjoy most of this band are the nice interludes/bridges that occur during the songs, where the band forget for a minute or two that they’re playing Black Metal and they begin to jam with acoustic and clean electric guitars in a very progressive fashion.

Even though Shining perform depressive Black Metal, it’s sound isn’t comparable in any way with such bands as Xasthur or Leviathan, which make use of keyboards in order to create their atmospheres; Shining instead , rely on their Doom sprinkled riffing to create their soundscapes.

I guess that where this album is lacking is in the variety and in the atmosphere. When I listen to depressive Black Metal I really take in count the atmosphere because the main objective of the music is to hypnotize and to absorb the listener; and while Shining manage to do it every now and then, it isn't as deep and engulfing like with other bands.

IV - The Eerie Cold is without a doubt better than the bore-fest III - Angst, Självdestruktivitetens Emissarie was, so people who where disappointed with it will find to their surprise that Shining managed to get back on track. People who aren’t absolute fans of the band (like me) will probably think of it as more of the same, so I would recommend you to look elsewhere (Nachtmystium). People who don’t know the band should add 10 points to the score, and consider this album a good introduction to the band.

NOTE: The part of this interview referent to the intro has been ereased because the nature and origin of the intro is unknown. The retail album doesn't include it, that's all that I'm certain of. An apology for my comments, but if this intro is indeed real and true, I am convinced of what I said in the ereased rant.